My doe has bee really erratic about her nesting and kindling. She never fully built a nest, and always built it outside of the box. I would move the nest into the box and put the box where she was building said nest. She never took to it very well, so today when I went out to check on her, there was one kit on the cage floor, with a pile of fur right next to it. The kit was freezing to death, so I took it inside to warm it up. I brought it back outside and put it in the nest box with the fur that she had been dispensing all over her hutch wire. She was in the nest box at that point, and seemed to accept the kit. When I went back out an hour later, there were seven more kits in the box, with blood all over them and the box, her placenta in the box and uneaten. I figured she would clean them up and feed them and cover them. I checked on her a few times after that, and she was just sitting in her nest box. A few hours later, I went out and found all the kits in the box, uncovered, crushed, and freezing to death. Most were unresponsive, but I managed to get five of them warmed up and wiggling. I don’t know what to do. Should I risk bottle raising them or do I try and give my doe a third chance and see if she’ll take to them? I’m worried she’s going to crush them and not care for them again if I put them back out. I have not idea if she has milk, and don’t know how to check, either
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If she's not taking care of them and possibly stomping on them and causing injury/death, I would risk removing them and the nest box, and hand feeding and raising them instead. If she is producing milk, instead of hand feeding, bringing them to the mom to feed from her once or twice a day, is the best alternative if it can be done safely, by holding them to the nipples. Though both she and them would need to be held in a safe manner to accomplish this.
https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Baby_rabbits_(domestic)
https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Baby_rabbits_(domestic)
